[dredmorbius]

I wash mine after use. Most frequent task: scrambling eggs. Also baking (bread, rolls, pizza), frying, saute.

Wash: a few drops of detergent and hot water immediately after cooking. Let sit while I eat. Scrub out with a brush, invert to dry.

Wipe with oil (I prefer flax, there are many other options).

Store on lower oven rack when not in use, inverted. Seasons whilst baking generally.

Once a month or two, or when the finish is looking grotty, I'll give it a good oil rub all over, and park it in the oven at 230C / 450F for 60--90 minutes, and allow to cool for 30--60 minutes after (depending on whether I need to use the oven). Like new.

Teflon is the best it'll ever be the day you get it from the shop. Cast iron only improves with age. My oldest pan is ~70 years old (a family hand-me-down), the newest has a few decades on it. All will undoubtedly outlast me.

[Fire-Dragon-DoL]

Ok but you described a lot of work for a pan that gets used 3 times a day (in terms of time). I do have a cast iron,but we prefer the stainless steel because of how much work is the cast iron.

[mplanchard]

That’s way more than I do with mine: hot water, nylon brush, throw it on the heat till dry, wipe with paper towel already oiled from constantly doing this.

First use is always over easy egg, which doesn’t really even dirty the pan enough to worry about if I’m going to just cook again later.

[Fire-Dragon-DoL]

That's what I do. Still a lot of effort, but it's more acceptable, we kept using it (forgive me, when it comes to cleaning the kitchen I'm clearly the laziest)

[dredmorbius]

The only work that's added over any of aluminium, stainless, or teflon, is the oil wipe, which takes a few seconds. For daily use.

Again, once a month or so, usually when I'm baking something else, I'll add a coat and leave the pans in the oven whilst I'm making bread, rolls, pizza, etc.

The benefit: a utensil which only improves with age, over decades if not centuries.

If stainless works for you, have at it. What I've described works very well for me.